By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS, GMA News
Published January 15, 2021 6:10pm The Supreme Court (SC) has reset the oral arguments on the anti-terror law to February 2 after an official and staff at the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) tested positive for COVID-19. Oral arguments were supposed to be held on January 19. But Clerk of Court Edgar Aricheta said on Friday that Solicitor General Jose Calida had informed the court that his assistant solicitor general and some staff who would attend the oral arguments have tested positive for COVID-19. No further postponement will be allowed, Aricheta said. The SC earlier allowed a limited number of lawyers from both the petitioners and the government s sides to physically attend the first oral arguments it will hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lawyer Ted Te says the cyber libel case is 'disturbing because it seems like cyber libel is now the first option in case of disagreement on reporting.' Rappler calls for the decriminalization of libel.
CA denies Maria Ressa s travel bid anew By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS, GMA News
Published December 24, 2020 1:06pm The Court of Appeals (CA) has denied Rappler CEO Maria Ressa s bid to travel in the United States to visit her ailing mother. In a December 18 resolution, the Special 12th Division said Ressa failed to prove the trip was necessary and urgent and that there were exceptional circumstances enough to restrict her right to travel. Ressa had asked the CA to allow her to visit her 76-year-old mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer last October. This is the third time the CA, which is handling Ressa s appeal of her cyber libel conviction last June, prohibited the journalist from leaving the country.
He added that these former NPA members risked their lives and their families for coming up with their exposè during the Senate hearing where they all took an oath, to tell the truth. (PNA file photo)
MANILA – A ranking official of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF ELCAC) lambasted the pronouncements of Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) chairperson Chel Diokno that President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s persistent red-tagging claims against Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate are “baseless and malicious”.
In a statement forwarded to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Friday, Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) chief, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, Jr., said FLAG and Diokno did not pay attention to the testimonies of former rebels in the Senate hearing who consistently identified party-list members as affiliates and allies of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA).
"This red-tagging is baseless and malicious. Such actions by the highest official of the land only subvert and hurt our already weak justice system," FLAG chairperson Chel Diokno said in a statement.